Heart Patches of Living Stem Cells

Until heart doctors have a successful strategy for injecting stem cells directly into cardiac tissue to repair damage, this may be the next best idea. Researchers at Imperial College London have used stem cells to make a small patch that can be sewn onto the heart and stimulated to beat via a pacemaker. “Made of stem cells carefully differentiated into cardiomyocytes, the patches, which are about the size of a small coin and contain approximately 50 million cells, can expand in size with every contraction. They initially help the heart to compensate for lost pumping power, but hopefully will eventually integrate with the heart and effectively replace the damaged tissues.” MORE